Le Botum Hotel — Hotel in Khan Daun Penh

This being my first visit to Phnom Penh, I did not know what to expect. My colleagues have been and all mentioned the Killing Fields as the must-do tour, so, with a cultural trip combined with history and exploration, I opted for a week in the capital city. ||I won't book expensive hotels, my preference is for affordability, location, decent reviews and somewhere central where I can hunker down.||The journey from Phnom Penh Airport to Le Botum Hotel took over an hour, but this is due to Phnom Penh's lack of motorway, rail infrastructure, underground and the time of my arrival, having been slightly delayed into Cambodia, meant my driver, salt of the earth, was battling horrendous queues in rush hour. That is one to remember for next time, if its rush hour, go local to the airport, wait a couple of hours, grab a meal at any of the numerous, and reasonably priced, eateries then get the taxi. ||It was very reminiscent of some of the older, less tourist streets of Siem Reap as we made slow but steady progress through the city and it was dark, so getting bearings just got that much more difficult. However, we arrived down what looked like a seriously pokey back street that would be a great setting for a murder novel, again, darkness is deceiving.||The hotel reception was clean, some great art work of Angkor Wat in wood dominated the seating area of the reception. The staff greeted me very politely on arrival and check-in was seamless. I was given a room on floor 2. ||The usual suspects in the room: fridge, safe, tea/coffee, shower, storage space - all fully functional and adequate. The shower had options of hand held or the 'rain maker' as I call them. One downside was the hot water reservoir was not large, I found that out on my first shower. However, knowing it has this electric heated reservoir, I learned quickly how to have long hot showers without the 'hot' becoming 'tepid'. The toilet comes with a 'bum gun' which for those in the know, is the equivalent of a water jet to clean the backside after bowel movements. The lovely comfortable double bed lay directly under the air conditioning fan and in Phnom Penh's mugginess, this was tactically the optimum place to be in that room. It meant every night there was a cool, comfortable night where I slept soundly. ||There was a small balcony and a small window into the room. In the light of day, the street was less theatrically threatening than nit first appeared and was, in fact, an absolute plus to the stay. It was peaceful, not bars spewing out drinkers in the early hours, just a lovely Royal Palace and surrounding religious buildings opposite and a couple of smaller, 'bijout' bars and eateries, one of which is The Vine, great food and popular with an older expat Aussie crowd. Next to Vine was a Mexican food eatery and a pizza place. Cutting through the Royal Palace buildings out into a lovely spacious park and along which it found the entrance to the main palace compound. This is a very worthwhile walks round. The buildings are lovely, the grounds well kept.||Breakfast was in the ground floor cafe with inside and outside seating and an outside noodle and egg station. Food was well prepared and simple. It is not a huge hotel so having a vast array of foods was not viable. Instead there were cooked dishes: rice, chicken, sausages, beans, hard boiled eggs, and sometimes thick cut rustic chips or potatoes and ham, cold cuts and salad, fruits (cut and prepared but left out exposed to the elements (would have been better to keep these under a lid to prevent flies landing on the fruit), cereals and breads. Free flow fruit juices (blackcurrant and orange, iced) English breakfast (Liptons) tea and coffee with a milk dispenser and next to this the free flow water dispenser which is the same one used to replenish water in the room and can be accessed by residents any time. Thus breakfast choices were varied and filling. Served 6am to 10am though if anyone was there stall at 10.15am there was nobody kicking anyone out, very relaxed and hassle free. The cafe was open during breakfast so purchasing of speciality coffees, teams and smoothies was available.||The pool was situated on the rooftop next to dining areas, the bar which was a semi covered in bar, and two terraces for dining, the skybar and the openair terrace. The views over Phnom Penh's water front, Royal Palace as well as business districts were amazing. The pool was not huge or too deep, therefore quite safe for children and from the edge of the pool, through the clear glass rooftop boundary, swimmers could take a drink and observe the city scape and sunset. A very pleasant experience.||Skybar food was decent and convenient but not really catering to families. Simpler dishes attractive to children and families would have been better. I had Katsu chicken one evening, nice enough. I had a meat lovers pizza with a thin crust base with a cold beer on arrival. It was tasty, but not as good as the Pizza Company pizza at the airport! Other dishes were seafood and Khmer. Drinks were pricey, but the views and setting were worth the extra. Service was with a smile. The two young lads working to serve the tables were friendly and responsive and the waiting/supervisory staff were very helpful. ||Rooms being serviced seems to have been a factor in some reviews. My take on hotel stays is to be pleasant with all the service staff, these are the unseen people who clean up after us, tidy our mess and make our beds. They try their best to ensure our stays are memorable and here at Le Botum, they did just that. My room was cleaned by a very lovely young man and occasionally assisted by an equally lovely lady. I made a point of saying 'Hello' to them and greeting them respectfully. I never had a single issue. I put my 'Please make up room' on the door and, 100% it was done. I left a few little gifts for them on departure and made sure the lad knew it was my appreciation for his kindness in looking after my room . I abhor stuck up people who think they are so much above others that they can treat service personnel as scraps to be discarded. A smile, a cheerful 'hello' and a 'Thank you' lightens the day. ||Top Tip: Download the Grab App, link a bank card and use Grab whenever possible: (a) fares are fixed and fair fares fair well, (b) Grab have the customer in mind, keep customers safe and deal with complaints, (c) the Grab Taxi map is a great destination finder too, (d) advanced bookings are available. The local tuktuks are superb, dirt cheap and very very convenient. I did witness a touting tuktuk driver haggling with tourists and every sentence his price had a reason to go up: number in group, time of day, what they were carrying.......load of twonk, book the Grab, stay hassle free. ||The le Botum is not the Ritz or the Waldorf Astoria and I am so pleased it's not. The Le Botum is a lovely, small hotel with great location, superb views, lovely staff, comfortable and quiet rooms and a superb place to base operations in Phnom Penh. ||I will return. This is an ideal hotel for like-minded explorers...

Unhygienic, noisy and very poor service! A really disappointing stay, and not cheap for Cambodia!||ROOM CLEANING (OR LACK OF) – they didn’t clean my room so on day 3 I asked them to come as I was out of clean towels, no tea / water replaced, soap, toilet paper & shampoo had run out, bin was overflowing. I left my towels in a pile on the floor, came back late afternoon to the pile of dirty towels still there, no water, no soap or shampoo etc. When I asked yet again and they finally came (on my last day no less) my teacups and glasses hadn’t been washed properly since day 1 so I asked them to replace them, they just rinsed them under the tap in my bathroom and put them back. Then they replaced the unpackaged tea bags with their bare hands – the same hands that had just been down the toilet. Disgusting.||ROOM / NOISE – My room was large and well-equipped (when I arrived but things quickly ran out and weren’t replaced) but dark due to one small glass door to a tiny balcony. Wi-Fi is slow and drops out without warning (see photo) The sound-proofing is bad – from both the street and the corridor. The most annoying thing with the room (because it’s constant) is the noise of the bell of the lift / elevator all the time, no matter which floor it stops on it dings on every floor – many reviews on Booking.com, Agoda etc complain about this – and yet they’ve done nothing. It’s irritating day, night, early hours of the morning!||LOCATION - Very good location, excellent for the Royal Palace and a short walk to the river. The Phnom Penh equivalent of London’s Whitehall / Westminster. The breakfast (ground floor, street level, shame they don’t do it on the roof) is quite good with a few local and international items and an omelette station. I’m surprised reviews rate the breakfast so badly, I thought it was good. There are a few restaurants on the street (‘Craft’ in a little alleyway was excellent) but no 7-11 (or equivalent) to buy snacks, toiletries or water nearby. Also, no ATMs nearby and no money change places (and the hotel won’t change it and can’t direct you to where to change it).||POOR SERVICE - As per other reviews - the reception staff aren’t particularly friendly. The rooftop bar staff aren’t efficient. The breakfast staff are lovely. The rooftop terrace is nice (when it’s open and you don’t fall through the rotted decking - see photo) but again, poor service lets it down (more below), and it’s a shame there are only 3 sunbeds for the whole hotel! There were 7 when I arrive but then they removed 4. The pool is in shade from the afternoon onwards. One day it was closed the entire day without pre-warning.|Went to the rooftop restaurant for ‘happy hour’ and dinner. Sat at a dinner table for 20 mins, nobody came. So went and asked for a menu myself from the bar – no apology not even a smile – and went back to my table. Sat for another 15 mins, nobody came, so I just left. Really poor service, esp. for an in-house guest. They’re too busy dealing with non-guests. I left to get dinner and drinks elsewhere and told reception on the way out, they were indifferent about the poor service on the roof, no apology. It’s a real shame as the rooftop would be a great place to have a drink and watch the sun set if it’s not closed without warning and you could get any service. Avoid the cocktails, they’re expensive and grim.||POOR SERVICE - My room keycard stopped working, went downstairs they reprogrammed it and told me it was done. Came back still not working, went back down, told me it’s fixed again. Came back up still not working. Went down AGAIN (this took about 40 minutes) and demanded they send someone with me – all the bad service and experiences here not once did they apologise. Just really, really poor.||POOR SERVICE AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. COULDN’T WAIT TO GET OUT...

Never having been to Phnom Penh, I didn't know what to expe t. The hotel had good reviews and seen ideally positioned to acess the main tourist attractions and close to Bassac where the nightlife happens. On arrival, I was greeted with smiles and good information. The lobby has a tourist info rack...definitely take the maps and main attractions info. My room overlooked a religious site and the street at night was very peaceful. The usual fixtures in the room and all in excellent working order. The shower is fed with a small resevoir of hot water...didn`t know tbat....so I questioned why I had no hot water minutes into my shower...once explained, I used it accordingly and got the hang of how to set the water to get a long hot shower. The shower was standard hand held device and my favourite, the rainmaker head that gives a wonderful deluge of hot water. Bed was queen size, comfortable and situated such that the gentle air conditionjng kept me cool and comfortable every night.Room safe was fully operational.Room serviced by a lovely lad who was always happy and efficient.Try the Sky Bar and roof top pool. The views are stunning. Tonle Sap and Mekon rivers, Royal Palace, gardens and river front along with a great panorama. Staff are very helpful and prices are competitive.The evening meal, on the roof top, open air, with the hustle and bustle of the city 11 floors below is to be experienced. The bar is well stocked serving draught and bottled beers alongside a very fair selection of spirits.Breakfast the following mornjng 6am to 10am (but its not rigid, so if people still there 10.20, well, no rush. Food variety was limited mainly: chicken with rice or noodles, sausages, beans, egg and a noodle and egg station outside. All self service. Toast, nice selection of baguettes, white and very brown bread options, jams, fruit and cereals. Fruit juices (blackcurrant or orange) and hot tea/coffee free flow.One very nice aspect is the free water refills. The bottle in the room is refilled by the unit in the breakfast room, as many times as required. Keep some in the room fridge for refreshing drinks after a long sweaty day.Finally the little cafe downstairs does a solid range of hot or iced drinks and it closes 3pm. Opens at breakfast.No guests permitted so guest's 'stuff' is safe. The doors are locked circa midnight, but as I am still a late night hound, getting back in was not an issue....just bang loudly on either of the two doors. Use Tuktuks from Grab. Not once got a problem. Plenty of freelance tuktuks touting but prices are variable one sentence to the next. Local bistros and small foody places. Try Vine, run by Aussies, good grub, good drinks, very popular with Aussie expats. Every member of staff here could not do enough for thecresidents, thus making their stay highly enjoyable. I would look to book this hotel again. Highly...